Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-05-15
CANCER CAN BE CURED
Operations serve In Every Case Z" Pro-
long misunderstanding statistics.

The question whether or not ANGER Il
durable hy operation Is n Of vital im-
portancc TO those who may have the dis
ease. Ii is popularity supposed Ia he in
durable. but statistics prove that il is NOT
so. In estimating the value Of operations
for canccr we must consider thc duration
If the disease when left To Itself. PaEet,
in 1873 cases. gives thu duration Of life in
IS not operated upon as As months, while
in the remaining "a, where one or more
operations had been performed. the life
average was 80 months. Sihley, in -
cases. snakes the average SO months in
cases not operated upon, and - months
in cases whore excelsior was practiced.
The longest duration Of life in cases not
operated upon is IL years. in those oper-
ated upon Is years, While these stalls
tics go Ia prove that operation prolongs
LIE, they do not prove an ultimate cure.
Or. Oldckop shows in his report that out
Of 29,g cases where operations he'd been
performed - recovered. DR.. Willard
Parker believed in operations for the lis.
ease. In a paper read before the Medical
Journal association m September. 1873,
he reports II cases of cure Is excelsior,
the patients Icing in good health nj the
ends Of periods varying from 3to2' years.
A mass of statistics might In brought
to show that in many instances cancer
has been radically cured. and in other
cases life has been indefinitely prolonged
by the use Of the knife. 4 few special
cases will serve to show this. DIR. Weir
reports a case in which the right breast
was amputatcd by DR.. James r. Wood
in 1876. In 1867 DIR. Post amputated
the left breast. In 1873 DIR. Weir re-
moved a rccurrent growth from the right
side. and again in 1871 and 1850. the pa
tient finally diving Of the disease % years
after its first appearance. DR.. Frank ii.
Hamilton operated upon a patient who
survived the excelsior 20 years. and ans
other patient Of his. whose breast WAS IN
tirely removed. survived the operation for
10 Years. Gases Of this description might
be multiplied. DR.. Shrady, Zen. Grant :
physician, claims that the disease Ii ur-
ganic. and in no way hereditary. IL le-
lieves that il origin Is lucal. and Is there
fore removable. and tlat tie constitution
becomes affected only Secondarily by a
more ar less widespread dissemination ct
original cancer germs. The failure of
on" excelsior To affect a cure in no wise
disconccrls linn. The disease is insidiou>,
and n careful microscopic examination Is
Necessary tu follow it, various mmiilca.
tiOns. Where the growth is NOT in proX'
unity Ia the vital organs. operation after
operation may be tried with impunity
In the case of Gen. Grant. the cntip
throa, WIS affected and an operation
meant certain death, otherwise an opera
ton would have been tried. IL is an tx
ception for more than one member Of {
family To become the victim Of cancer
In fact it may be confidently said that NJ
human lsing can he sure Of escaping the
disease until he has passed the age Of it,
occurrence. which is when his vital ma.
cnincry is entirely worn out. In Other
words lc can ever beconsiderel fortunate
in respect to cancer until he is dead
New York Mail and Express.